privilege or a curse?

Hazem,

The Mill looks derelict, voiceless and livless, I wonder if Barada is still, with his shallow water, flow under the mill’s mud walls? Here is the view I once painted from the Mill

Thank you for the moving stills.

Yes, Moudarres was one of many teachers, here what I wrote about him in my Eye and other magic moments:

“Diary of my studio was the title of my final project at the Institute. I did get a First in my year. I had many teachers, some plain, some vivid, but Fateh Moudarres (Moudarres means teacher in Arabic) was the silent one. I hardly heard him, until one day when I had to exhibit my “Diary of my studio” I knocked at the door of his basement studio to ask if he could write the introduction to my first exhibition. He opened the door (putting his index finger on his mouth) and ushered me inside, I followed him into his very long dark studio. The walls were covered with his paintings, writings, drawings, pictures, quotes and newspapers cuttings. He poured me a coffee with honey and asked me to sit on the chair next to the cassette recorder, and he asked me to press the RECORD button. He sat, giving me his back, behind his piano and started to play. I was in ecstasy; the place was filled with the unfamiliar sound of his piano keys and the smell of paint, dust, honey and coffee. He finished, took the tape out, and signed it “composition 27, F. Moudarres 1984”. It all made great sense; I didn’t know that my silent teacher was a composer, a poet and a great painter. I went out to the street closing my eyes, breathing slowly, trying to capture the remains of the after image inside my eyes.

The months,after I graduated, were a great insight to the inside world of a great teacher. Many years later I had an exhibition with him in Cambridge called Sketch, when Moudarres gave me his short stories, “The sprig of mint”, and asked me to translate it into English, but insisted that this should be translated by me only; to keep the spirit of his visual thoughts. I attempted this, sadly my teacher died and I never managed to untangle his complex simplicities.”

Did you film your self being buried? (This reminded me of this series by an artist I forgot his name)

Equally, do you know of a british Artist called Anthony Gormley; many of his works are based on moulds taken from his own body, and he talks very deeply about his experience being inside the mould, his meditation, and fragility.

As for you caricature, I think you might like to use them in there own as moving images, or you might find a way to be part of you film-making! . The other artist who uses drawing, organically as part of his ceramic pieces and as a form of storeytelling with great personal reference, is Grayson Perry. Although his images are “stills” on vases, typically, but they force/invite you to move around to see them. Let me know how you are getting on your Turn 2; i know you are working hard hence “I am watching the dawn now”.

I had few days in my studio working, harvesting the sunshine I’ll send some samples tomorrow from the studio.

I am not a photographer, but recently I was drawn to use photography literally as drawing (some times painting) with light, or the lack of it (On the front page of my College,Christ’s, www.christs.cam.ac.uk there is an image of mine of the sundial on a misty day).

Talking about the sun, I am having a meeting tomorrow to discuss a commission/sculpture to deal with the apparent movement of the sun in the sky (that is from our earth), It is a sundial/annual calendar called Analemma.

I had many studios in Cambridge, starting with my bedroom, then to my Round church Studio,